This here is my all time favorite aquatic critter ID guide. It was put together by the Audubon Canyon Ranch and when they took it offline during a website change I asked if I can have it and share it with ecosphere enthusiasts. And they said yes and sent it to me.
Since it's a pdf I put it on my website for either viewing or downloading:
I first stumbled upon this subreddit sometime in February after impulse purchasing some aquatic plants, failing to keep them happy in a dirted glass jar, and asking for help in the Walstad subreddit. Now, I wanna share the project I've been working on these past months
Mystery ramshorn snail that came with one of the plants I bought
I'm a big sucker for ecosystems and spend a lot of time researching local ones. One of my passions is native ecosystem restoration and preservation, especially restoring wetlands. When I learned about low-tech and filterless dirted tanks, I figured I had found the perfect playground to learn more about the wetlands in the area, and went and snagged myself this 70 liter tank for dirt cheap from some guy out in an industrial area.
I acquired my plants over time, bought my first load from many different local stores and got a bunch of freebies along the way including several snails and a bunch of isopods; turns out babbling about your interest in ecology is a great way to get aquarists to take a liking to you.
I planted the tank in mid March with the first load of plants that I had bought, added some snails from my jar which had stabilized and become crystal clear at that point, and was amazed at how well they managed without any tech aside from the regular grow light in the ceiling - surprisingly enough, the crypts still haven't recovered from the initial melt when I planted them, but the lotus started growing straightaway. I ordered some more plants here and there from other aquarium hobbyists (I guess I'm one of those now??) and spent the whole spring rooting around the national taxonomical database and several wetlands, streams, and ponds looking for plant- and wildlife to put in my tank.
Some local species I have in there:
The last inhabitants to enter the tank a little more than a week ago, were fifty common toad tadpoles, which I will be releasing where I found them once they've completed their metamorphosis. I've been working towards this all spring, reading up on the rules and care requirements for raising wild-caught tadpoles and preparing the tank to suit their needs, and then checking all the locations nearby with recent reported frog egg- and tadpole sightings for weeks until finally I found a pond with thousands of common toad tadpoles. I'm keeping the number of tadpoles below the recommended limit with a wide margin, and I've prepared to add a filter and release some of the poles early if I notice any signs that the tank can't handle the bioload in its current state.
So far, the tank is doing good. The inhabitants are all active and lively and eating well, and there's no significant detritus buildup. I've had copepods and daphnia and boogie worms for about a month, and hydras for a few day. There have been two rounds of snail eggs hatching, and yesterday I noticed the first pregnant isopod. I don't think I'll be adding any more plants for some time unless the tadpoles prove to eat them faster than they can grow, but if I need to add more, all of the native plants I listed grow less than a ten minute walk away.
Once the tadpoles are all grown up, I might get a light and landscape the tank a little nicer, see if I can get the plants to grow nice and dense.
